Foreign troops visit Marco Polo Bridge on WWII anniversary

World Today

In the run-up to China’s first war anniversary military parade on September the 3rd, foreign troops from 17 countries have paid a visit to the Lugou Bridge, also called the Marco Polo Bridge, in the suburbs of Beijing. CCTV’s Han Peng filed this report.

More details:

  • Japanese forces at the time said that one of their soldiers was lost in Wanping – a town near the bridge – and demanded to search for him. Refused by the Chinese, Japan crossed the bridge and unleashed a campaign of heavy bombardment and shelling. The incident marked the beginning of China’s eight-year-long War of Resistance. The country would become one of the bloodiest battlefields in the flames of the Second World War.
  • Soldiers from 17 countries contribute to the victory of WWII parade, including China’s neighbors Russia and Pakistan, as well as those from countries in other parts of the world such as Mexico and Egypt. On September 3, they will march across Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, in a major military parade in memorial of the Second World War.